what do you use to prelude cylinders for break in? Some use wd-40, dino based motor oil , transmission fluid, total seal quick seat, ect.

5W 20Wt Valvoline motor oil mixed 80x20% with type F tranny fluid
I clean the cylinder walls with solvent and then rub that oil mix on them and clean them again until no color shows on a pure white rag or white paper towel when wiping the insides clean
engine assembly is like brain surgery, it is absolutely impossible to keep it too clean

I have seen guys use everything from peanut oil to Tranny fluid, but I think as Cab_Burge mentioned a clean cylinder, one that you can wipe with an oily rag and get no honing residue is what is needed. I wash block with soapy water, and then wipe with WD-40, have also used gun oil as well.

A few drops of oil in each ring groove. Wipe some engine oil on the skirts. WD 40 on the walls. Has worked perfect for years. Street or race motor.
Doug

Not sure if you have time to get the Total Seal Quick Seat stuff but if so, I'd check into it. So easy a caveman like me could do it. Clean cylinder walls, then WD40. Put some of the powder on a finger and burnish in, turns a goldish/green color, little bit goes a long way. Install pistons/rings. Turn the crank over a few times and the rings are seated.

This is what Bill Miller Engineering thinks about the subject:

WARNING
EXTREME DANGER
Do not use WD40,automatic trans fluid,kerosene, or any other
lightweight rust preventatives for engine assembly.
These are not lubricants.
These products will ruin the cylinder walls, they will ruin the face of the piston rings, and they will ruin the skirts on the pistons.

USE ONLY HIGH QUALITY PETROLEUM BASED ENGINE OIL(NO SYNTHETICS).Apply engine oil to the piston skirts, cylinder walls. pin holes and pins, and a light film on both sides of the piston rings

I have this actual notice that came with some pistons around somewhere but I found this from a post Moparts member mafo had posted earlier.

After I am satisfied the engine and parts are clean I dunk the piston ring assembly into an empty coffee canister full of oil. I then install the pistons. That is all I do. No failures yet in 40 years of building engines.
Yes, it is messy. As far as a break-in procedure? Follow the ring manufacturers' instructions. I have built an engine today and raced it tonite and had no issues either. IS a break-in on a race engine necessary?

It's amazing my engines even run. You'll notice WD 40 is applied on the cylinder wall only. No where else. This info came from Roush. Current race motor has 330+ passes.
Doug

Hi....I’m Bon Ami.....Piston Ring, meet Cylinder Wall... LOL.

WD40 is not a lubricant?

I was skeptical of the Quick Seat stuff too so I called Total Seal about it. They were the ones who told me to use WD40 with it.The powder is actually the lubricant, the WD40 just helps to distribute it in a sort of paste form which basically keeps it from flaking off.They also told me specifically not to dunk the rings in oil.

Maybe the BM warning is them just saying don't use it as the only method of lubrication? That would make sense.

My last new one I fired it up, set the timing and carb, then took it out and hit it with a 100 shot.

Regardless of what Bill Miller says (I agree with most of it) you never ever put oil on a pistton ring.

This has been hashed out many times. You'll always have those who dunk the entire piston ion oil, those who squirt oil on the rings and those who load the cylinder walls with oil before assembly.

Clean the bores until a lint free white cloth comes out clean. Find a QUALITY assembly lube. Put a small amount of that lube (it will NEVER be a paste) on the skirts until there is a thin coat on both sides of the skirts. It doesn't need to be running off on the floor. Just a thin coat.

Then assemble.

By the time you are done, you'll notice a light film of assembly lube on the bores. The rings will be so close to being seated the job is done.

No reason to oil a piston ring let alone drown them in oil. Just a waste and it makes getting the rings seated much more difficult.

I just love this subject.

Transmission fluid only for me. Start it, load it in the trailer, and a full bore pass down the track, and race it.

Correct finish and moly rings require no break in , per the ring mfg's. Lube as you like.

I think a good take away from this if you put something mildly slippery on the rings and start the engine the rings will seat in short time.

I use to dip the piston into a 3 lb. coffee can full of oil and ATF mix, I now squirt the same mix onto the rings in the ring lands and spin the rings around to make sure their lube well and wipe the excess off onto the piston skirts. I do wipe the cylinder walls off with white paper towels multiple times while assembling the motor and when degreeing the cam
I do use the same lube on the wrist pins and piston pin bores to lube them also

This is my method as well.

Mark

I used to dip the pistons on oil to lube up the rist pins and to make sure the pistons had oil when they went into the cylinders upon assembly. Then maybe 20 some years ago someone stated to use WD40 for quick ring break in , I never had a problem with ring break in with the oil bath but I have used the WD40 from then on as it was not as messy with no problems. I even spray some in the cylinders before the heads go on . My thinking is to keep the cylinders somewhat wet as most will not be fired right away.

Aaah, memories of the old "pour Bon-Ami and water mixture down the carb".